Whee, my book is out in the world! Well–partially. Unfortunately, my plans for getting the physical copy of Familiar Things out at the same time as the digital copy fell through. Entirely my fault, I’m afraid. Last week I caught a nasty cold somewhere between New York and Seattle, and it really knocked me for a loop. I’ve been propping myself up for a few hours each day to ease the ebook launch ahead, but I’m afraid I’ve had no time to work on formatting the hardcopy. Now that I’m feeling better (read: less drugged-up and stupid), I promise to get right back to work on that. (I did watch a ton of movies while I was down, though. Which was fun. I alternated between, “Ooh, deformed hero!” and “Ooh, pretty...

And here we go–the contemporary, chapter-by-chapter soundtrack from the Mystery Project! I have to admit, one of the biggest reasons I wanted to play around with a 50s-themed universe is the music. I was raised on this music. With few exceptions, I didn’t hear any modern music until I was a tween or early teenager. It was just an accident of birth. It was what my parents listened to. When I got to college, I was appalled that none of the other students knew who Gene Pitney was (he’s my favorite singer ever, and one of the greatest songwriters of all time). Or Roy Orbison. Or Brenda Lee. I mean, I was immersed in this stuff. These songs are my world. Although the first story in the Mystery Project series takes place between 1958 and ’59, I...

Hi everyone! Once again, my fantastic local bookstore, Books Off the Beaten Path, is eager to make your signed book dreams a reality for the holidays. If you’d like a signed copy of Dearly, Departed or Dearly, Beloved, all you have to do is email* or call BOTBP (716-720-4917) and order as many copies as you like. I’ll sign them as they’re ordered (likely bi-weekly), so depending on availability, they’ll soon be in the mail to you! Orders must be placed by December 19th. Happy holidays! * Please email if you...

First of all — thanks to everyone who voted! We had nearly 1000 votes, that’s amazing! As of 11:51 this morning (aka “dawn”), the top three results were: Entry 2: Cassandra (536 votes) Entry 7: Lori (303 votes) Entry 5: 7hir7een (71 votes) So Cassandra’s sign carries the day — all hail the power of Father Isley! Congratulations! And thank you to everyone who entered — the fact that so many did is wonderful, and really means the world to me. You all rock!...

I’ll be at NYCC again this year! Right now I’m confirmed for two signings at the Random House booth (#1120) and a panel on Saturday! The panel is… Saturday, October 13th, 2:45–3:45 PM, 1A01 “GENRE-BENDERS: Out-of-the-box Science-Fiction and Fantasy Novels that blur the lines of fantasy, SF, horror, romance, steampunk, you name it!” The signings are scheduled for: Saturday, October 13th at 1 p.m. Sunday, October 14th at 12 p.m. Hope to see you...